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Monday, February 27, 2012

You may already be wondering, “what parent in their right mind would not want their kids to go to college?” I half expect the Child Protective Services to beat down my door just for writing this. It was not that long ago that I myself would have shunned this article, and concluded that its author is an unfit parent. But a measured look at the reasons why college may not be the best choice reveals another side of the story that most parents aren't usually exposed to.

I must state upfront that if our children desire a profession that requires college, of course we will encourage and support them to follow their dreams. However, they will definitely know the consequences versus the benefits.

First, let's examine the traditional path that was ingrained in all of us.

Do your homework. Get good grades. Go to a good college. Get a job. Work for 45-plus years to pay off all debts. Save for your kid's college and your retirement. Play by the rules. Success will be yours.

Sound familiar?

We've all heard this mantra from family, teachers, employers and the TV, as if it's the only path society provides for success. For many, as the economy worsens this myth gets echoed even more loudly. "We need more education to compete in a weaker job market," society says. But is it really true given the current economic situation?

I understand that for some people college will be a necessary step in pursuing their dreams. For instance, those who want to become certified doctors in the US must study at an American Medical Association approved university.

But first they should ask themselves "why" they want to be a doctor.

Is it to help people? To make a nice income? Is it for prestige among family and peers? Then, it may be wise to ponder if becoming a doctor is the best way to accomplish those goals. Certainly there must be other ways to help people, make good money, and gain respect from loved ones without accruing a quarter-million dollar debt before working life begins, right?

Either way, college may be necessary for some to achieve their dreams. But let’s be sure our children know that there are other paths, other innovative ways to attain their goals, and certainly other ways to spend 4-8 of the best years of their lives.

Here are eight reasons why college will not be encouraged in our household:

College is just not what it used to be
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1. It is Obsolete
Why does a nursing student need four more years of English Lit or Algebra? Likewise, why would a business major have any need for Anatomy and Physiology? I know, I know, back to that whole college-is-teaching-kids-to-think argument. Or maybe the “well-rounded” school of thought? I don’t buy it. After 13 years of schooling prior to college, most subjects outside of a degree's focus seem to be a waste of time and money.

Additionally, the world is changing at lightening-fast speed, but the education system is still moving at a snail's pace. At the exponential rate of change in science and technology, by the time someone graduates from 4-6 years of college what they were forced to learn the first couple of years is most likely obsolete, requiring even more schooling. What a racket!

What's more, with a smartphone and Internet, all of the world's knowledge is literally in the palm of our hand. Incidentally, advanced knowledge is not confined to the brick-and-mortar walls of universities anymore.

2. Horrible Job Market
In this poor economic climate where America's job market has entered a prolonged drought, college graduates are no longer guaranteed a job. In fact, only 53% of recent college graduates in the U.S. have full-time employment. And even global youth unemployment has been labeled a "crisis".

Employment rates for new college graduates have fallen sharply in the last two years, as have starting salaries for those who can find work. What’s more, only half of the jobs landed by these new graduates even require a college degree, reviving debates about whether higher education is 'worth it' after all.

So, the myth that kids must attend college to get a job is proven false. Kids today need more than the standard education to stand out in a crowded field of cookie-cutter graduates.

3. Prohibitive Cost
The cost of going to college versus the benefits make it a terrible investment. Entrepreneur James Altucher breaks down the numbers quite accurately:

The average tuition cost is approximately $16,000 per year. Plus assume another $10,000 in living costs, books, etc. $26,000 in total for a complete cost of $104,000 in a 4 year period. Some people choose to go more expensive by going to a private college and some people choose to go a little cheaper by going public but this is an average. Also, a huge assumption is that its just for a 4 year period. According to the Department of Education, only 54% of undergraduates graduate within 6 years. So for the 46% that don’t graduate, or take 10 years to graduate, this is a horrible investment. But lets assume your children are in the brilliant first half who finish within six years (and hopefully within four).

Is it worth it? First, let’s look at it completely from a monetary perspective. Over the course of a lifetime, according to CollegeBoard, a college graduate can be expected to earn $800,000 more than his counterpart that didn’t go to college. $800,000 is a big spread and it could potentially separate the haves from the have-nots. But who has and who doesn’t?

If I took that $104,000 and I chose to invest it in a savings account that had interest income of 5% per year I’d end up with an extra $1.4 million dollars over a 50 year period. A full $600,000 more. That $600,000 is a lot of extra money an 18 year old could look forward to in her retirement. I also think the $800,000 quoted above is too high. Right now most motivated kids who have the interest and resources to go to college think it’s the only way to go if they want a good job. If those same kids decided to not go to college my guess is they would quickly close the gap on that $800,000 spread.

There is not much more to say. It's is a bad investment for parents, and student loans seem financially irresponsible as a burden to place on our children before they start their professional life.

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4. Debt Serfdom
As the cost of living continues to outpace pay increases, it's difficult enough just to survive week to week, let alone get ahead financially. When young people begin their adult lives saddled with hundreds of thousands of debt, it almost ensures that they will be locked into a lifetime of debt serfdom. In other words, they'll be trapped into working whatever job they can find just to pay this obligation irregardless of their passions. Add on the pressure and manufactured prestige of "owning" a home, having a nice car, starting a family or dressing a certain way, and you have all the makings of wasting a life trying to pay for these things. I'm not sure this was part of the original American Dream, but, sadly, it is indisputably what it has become. Surely, there are more fulfilling ways to spend our limited time on this planet than running on the same hamster wheel our entire lives.

5. Knowledge is Free
It's important to highlight the difference between school and knowledge. These things do not go hand in hand. Many people go to college and never achieve any useful knowledge, while many people who never attend school are some of the wisest and most successful people in the world.

In the 1700s, knowledge was limited to those with the resources to buy books, or those who could afford to send their kids to school (most stayed home to work the family trade). Ben Franklin understood that in order to have a level playing field in society, everyone must have access to knowledge. So he founded the first public library in America (which later became the University of Pennsylvania). Now that the Internet acts as a global open-source library and is giving away knowledge, everyone has the ability to learn about what they're most interested in for free.

No need to waste money just to get a piece of paper saying you “officially have gained knowledge”. What is the goal; the piece of paper, or the actual knowledge? If it is the knowledge, as I hope it should be, then college is not the most efficient way to reach that goal anymore.

6. Wasted Youth
To all those who said they had the time of their life in college, I ask, "Couldn't you get drunk and flirt with the opposite sex without college?" We likely had the time of our lives because we were young, healthy, carefree and it was the first time we were out of our parents' control. College just happened to be the place where we lived this experience. But it's a tall price to pay, since all of those factors don't change in the absence of college.

Furthermore, how many of you went to college purely out of obligation? My parents never gave me the option, even though, in retrospect, I wasn't mature enough to appreciate my overpriced education. So, I dropped (flunked) out. It wasn't until later in life when I knew what I wanted to be, that I began to appreciate school. Then, I got straight A's in route to becoming a Registered Nurse.

In these most amazing years of life, transitioning from child to adult, imagine what could be experienced or achieved when you're not locked in a dorm out of obligation (See the countless alternatives to college in my final point). Finally, college will always be there for your kids no matter when and if they decide to go.

7. Limited Life Choices
Many people that we meet say they're envious of our permanent travel lifestyle, but they feel too trapped by financial obligations to attempt an alternative lifestyle. This is the result of the debt serfdom cycle explained earlier that begins with student loans. Because of the debts incurred while at college, and a host of other reasons, many young adults end up limiting their options in life. We are usually told the opposite, but once a student commits to a certain major they may feel obligated to only pursue that career even if it falls out of favor with them. Most kids usually don't know what they want at 18 years old.

Life should be a collection of experiences, not a collection of shiny trinkets that mean nothing on our deathbeds. If we seek a life outside of the proverbial box -- a life of travel, of passion, of adventure, of independence -- then societal pressures and college debt become a prison that locks us into a narrow range of experiences. Once we step out of the box and realize this, the floodgates of alternatives to the "normal" path open wide.

8. Countless Alternatives
This is the other side of the story that parents aren't supposed to see, or even contemplate for their kids. First, it begins with wanting something for your child that's far more important than societal success -- happiness! This can only be achieved if we allow our children to livetheir passions. After all, this life is theirs for the making, and we view our job as a guide to help them follow their own path, not to dictate some societal fantasy.

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Even our parents are still bitter that we gave up on the traditional definition of success to pursue an alternative lifestyle of homeschooling and extensive adventuring. Our happiness seems to take a backseat in their mind compared to the anguish they feel about missing their grandkids, and our rejection of the dreams they had for us. Although this has been somewhat painful, we're grateful to them for helping shape what we believe is important for our children.

So what alternatives are available instead of going to college? First, they can take online courses through OpenCourseware or iTunes if they want to accrue college credits. They can learn a skill by becoming an apprentice. They can volunteer for a charity or even a big company to learn about how those organizations work. They can travel by picking up odd jobs along the way (or obtaining ESL certificate to teach English abroad). They can start a business, a nonprofit organization, or monetize a blog. They can find a mentor or become a self-taught expert in whatever field that moves them. They can create something beautiful; art, music, handmade crafts, write a book, or build something. This list is endless, and they will gain great knowledge with each of these examples and more.

Finally, they can just get a part-time job and enjoy their carefree youth until they discover their passion. We must stop assuming that a "lack of direction" equals failure. It doesn't; not if they're happy. We get one go around in this life and it shouldn't be wasted doing something that others expect us to do.

At this point, our boys learn what interests them and is pertinent to their lives. We all learn better when we're inspired. And we have great confidence in this approach to prepare them for life. The universe has a funny way of giving people what they desire. Sadly, most people are too busy complaining about their situation to even define what they want.

In conclusion, we teach our boys that they should do what they love. That happiness is far more important than any status symbol or paycheck, no matter what anyone thinks. No dream is too big to achieve. The college-job path is only one way to achieve certain goals among a host of other perhaps more rewarding experiences.

39 comments:

While there is no denying that there are exceptional individuals who can be very successful in this world without a college education, the reality is, that for the masses the stats paint a VERY clear picture why a college education IS THE CHOICE for the majority of people.

Pick nearly ANY positive aspect of living in the US and those with a college education are more likely to experience it. Who is most likely to have employer sponsored health insurance? Those with a college education. Who is most likely to have a job during these horrific economic times? Those with a college education. Who is most likely to earn the larger salaries? Those with a college education. Who is most likely to own their home? Those with a college education. Who is least likely to smoke? Those with a college education. Who is most likely to vote? Those with a college education. Which group has the lowest non-marital birthrate? Those with a college education. Who is most likely to volunteer? Those with a college education. Whose children are most likely to do well in school? Those with a college education.

This populist pulp might play well in some circles, but only with those who are completely out of touch with reality.

Our nation cannot afford to slip any further behind the rest of the world in regard to the education of our people We once led the world in % of people with a bachelors... not any more.

Verification of my claims can be found via the research and posters provided by Tom Mortenson who draws his data from the census and other highly regarded data fields. The posters of these facts can be seen at: http://www.postsecondary.org/commondetail.asp?id=1624

Nice article. Very well thought out. As someone who has a daughter in college, I am seeing the limitations in a very personal way. I hope this article wakes up some people before they enter the system.

BRAVO! The only thing college is good for these days is churning out slaves. Life has more to offer than working for someone else who can ruin your life with a pink slip. Independent knowledge and the ability to adapt to change is far more important than a piece of paper.

If I had it to do over again, instead of going to college and then grad school, I would go to India and become a swami, or some other such thing, or stay in the U.S. and do it. The Bay Area has lots of alternative "educational institutions".

This article clearly ignores some important FACTS from well known studies.1) Those who finish college are happier than those who don't.2) Those who finish college are healthier than those who don't.3) Those that finish college live longer than those who don't.

college only helps if the jobs are there. Sister has masters in microbiology. She has a job but that pays half of what was told to her by the college people. another friend has a degree in communications. he works at wal-mart s a stock boy. brother has no college and a work history of mechanics and commercial driving. he's doing great!

Great comments. I like what Jim said, and I "agree" with most of his observations, however, what Jim didn't say, is that America's "Education" System is more of an "Indoctrination System", than a true EDUCATION SYSTEM. I personally learned MORE, from reading, in my free time, after work, than I EVER DID IN SCHOOL. The Public School system lays a foundation, for those who ACTUALLY STUDY, and work hard at learning. Be informed, however, that the U.S. Public Indoctrination System, largely co-opted by Rockefeller and other Trusts, was designed to turn out blue-collar laborers for the Industrial Revolution, of the 19th Century. YOUR REAL EDUCATION, HOWEVER, CAN BE GAINED BY READING IN USED BOOK STORES! Also, a college degree isn't a guarantee of a job! It used to be - but, no longer! People may, and are, learning A LOT from the INTERNET, as well! And, to be sure, since a college degree is NO LONGER A GUARANTEE OF A JOB - coupled with the fact of the college debt acquired along with the degree - my personal recommendation to young people, is this: 1) Do what you love, first and foremost. 2) IF you feel strongly about going to college - pick a career field that you genuinely have an interest in, and that is in great demand, such as NURSING, otherwise, it'll be VERY DIFFICULT to find a job, degree or no degree, and 3) Don't think you have to be a YALE or HARVARD or PRINCETON Graduate, in order to receive a top-tier education. Your education will have much more to do with how much effort you put into it, than what school issued your degree. Of course, as always, it's often not about WHAT you know - it's also about WHO you know - and getting into YALE, HARVARD or PRINCETON - IS ALMOST ALWAYS, ABOUT WHO you know!

I am always amused by the self-serving twaddle disguised as advice from the educational establishment that college "teaches you how to think". Not true! In my liberal arts required coursework, it was a well-known hazard of having some puffed up Marxist little dictator lecture the class about how capitalism, or racism or patriarchy was the source of all evil, and woe betide any student who dared to argue otherwise. Most students learned to keep their heads down to get a decent grade while their pompous twit of a professor held court, or just dropped the class altogether.

My major was in Engineering, so I escaped the worst of this totalitarian drill, but knew enough from my required G.E. classes to feel a tinge of pity for anyone with a liberal arts degree that they basically paid for their own mental chains. And that was 25 years ago.

Everything in my experience has shown that the problem is much worse today. And with debts that are much higher as well. Traditional college today is VERY perilous for most 18 year olds not knowing what to do with their lives. Stay away til you know exactly what you want to do and how to achieve it. Otherwise, a life of frustration and misery awaits you.

Then there is the money you need to live this fantastic college free existence. I've thought about this dilemma, and the solution to it. Without classes or alternatively getting paid money to learn, nobody has the sufficient motivation to study in a disciplined way. Even if a person has self-discipline, it will take them much longer to find and compile everything that is put together in advance in course material. After paying for all these books, lectures, and tests, a person does not have real-life abilities that can only be had by hands on experience. The answer is hybrid apprenticeship-schools where the employer is also the professor with gradations in pay and credentials increasing with ability and understanding. This provides the best combination of book knowledge and real experience. Otherwise, a person without a college education still has limited options in the real world; it is not liberating to not have a college education in lieu of tuition debt. What you saved in tuition, you still have to actually earn at some kind of job unless you come from a silver-spoon trustfund background. You can make money at landscaping, food service, janitorial services, maybe construction but high level construction requires an education, try to be a Hollywood actor or a platinum selling rock star (good luck). The Steve Jobs and Bill Gates stories' secret is that they had heavy hitters back them and this is not usually the case. Even professional sports players are picked out of collegiate sports leagues, so there is still the college hoop to jump through to get paid to steal and throw balls around on TV. Getting advanced degrees are to plug into the corporate cabal as a CEO, maybe as a professor in Antarctica, but it actually is even more limiting to have an advanced degree than not having one in terms of opportunity. The higher your education level, the more specialized employers perceive you to be, and the job market is much more limited too. Knowledge should be free, but its application takes guidance. Then there are the free-wheeling business degrees and law degrees that seem to be universal in application and not so limited as technological field degrees. You can also just make up your credentials and tack on letters to your name, but that will only take you so far!

wow! i love this article. i am a sophomore in college now and more and more i ask myself "do i really need all this stress and bullshit that comes with college to be successful" or "i really dont know what it is i want to do in life right now." a lot of times i feel like i would be better off working a part time job until i figure out what it is i want to do.At least by working until i figure out what i want to do i can save some money. so many thoughts come across my mind when i think about college. but MOST of the time i feel like college is not as beneficial as they make it seem. Especially after all the articles i've read and being a college student of today, it causes so much stress for one. all the stress & pressure to get the best grades and study all for what... a piece of paper and thousands of dollar in debt before you even step foot into your career. Im about to be a junior and i don't want to stop going to school after surviving 2 years but to me its becoming less and less "worth it" to me. i think that if i had started college at an later age i would have been much more disciplined for it, instead of being thrown into it and taking the first 2 or 3 years to learn myself and how to be disciplined and to study. GREAT ARTICLE!!

I completely agree with this article and I have already done this way back with my kids. The reality I guess is that, most people think alike, and only a few sees things differently. But it is a good article that will hopefully enlighten more people. I will share this to all my friends.

lovely and to the point ..we need to go back to nature and learn skills of life.In past more people were uneducated but still world was a happy place...Education was there but it was about values and morals.. The world now needs more farmers and basic human values.

College is just the continuation of the enslavement training that the UN envisage. I can see it in Doctors - where they are taught to believe in curing not preventing,in pharmaceuticles,in cancer radiation etc. I see it in Science where they are taught to believe in evolution. I see it in Religious studies where they are taught to believe in all religions, many ways to heaven. I see it in general when they are taught to believe in Global warming/ Climate change. Truth and facts are not the ingredients of this cake anymore!!!

At 65 years young, I've witnessed the spiral of our educational systems demise as is now clearly the case for all global institutions.We are clearly capable of reinventing an entirely different system that more clearly reflects the highest ideals of the human spirit and experience. The walls of the boxes no longer hold. The brilliant inovators are there. The tools are all there. When the old restrictions and limitations are lifted creativity blooms anew. "Let each become all he is capable of" still holds wisdom for us all.

I feel sitting in school for 13 years is long enough. In college most kids drink, use drugs and do things they would never do at home. If you can cook, manage a business, black smithing, welding, carpentry and being a motivational speaker you have unlimited work. College takes a lot of money and a lot of time. A kid can open a pizza shop right out of high school and make $100,000 a year. The college kid is $500,000 behind when he starts. With online college moving away and the added expense of renting makes no sense. Some kids need papers to make money. Sometimes college kids have no common sense. Their papers gets them their money. But they might not find work and have to move away for a job which means more wasted money. The expense of traveling home from college and if gas becomes $9 a gallon like in Europe traveling will be very expensive. If drive an hour to work you will be spending $25 a day for gas. You will wear out a car every four years. There is two hours a day you make nothing. If you open a pizza shop and live upstairs you got it licked. So many idiots get jobs and drive many miles, but can't dedcut the miles. College also is taught by very liberal professors.

I never learned anything after 7th grade. I did learn typing in high school and a little more about history, but I could read fast and I was good in math.I taught my son a few years ago. I learned a lot while doing this. But really if you can read and know the parts of speech and word definitions and can add and convert decibels and frations you're good to go. There is no need for for home economic and cooking class and all those advanced math classes. You will not need algebra to balance a checkbook. ALgebra is taught, but you won't use it. School should only be about math, history, English and science and after four hours go home. Kids who learn a trade should be able to graduate by the tenth grade. They waste too much time. Music class and art class are a waste of time.

My parents were willing to go broke to send me to a top university back in 1971 but I knew I didn't have the desire for stressful success or to see their labors wasted. Instead I went to community college but mostly caddied at the local country club for five years until a club member got me a job at a GM assembly plant where I gladly accepted an early retirement 28 years later. My fear these days is the youth in general seem to have a bizarre sense of self importance and too many parents are willing to accomodate them. They are victims of some cruel social engineering that is subtley but precisely driven as a vehicle on route to an idiocracy. If the university system were legit, the admission requirements would start with an IQ rating of about 145 and they wouldn't offer curriculums geared for less. Most students nowadays would be better served using their wits and ambition elsewhere if for no other reason than to avoid debt or depletion of family assets as we head into the economic uncertainty of the post industrial era. Besides my father always told me it's not what you know but who you know.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. College and Universities are there because employers use the requirement for a degree as a way of trashing 50% or more of the job applications. There are way too many applicants for the too few decent jobs is the problem.

College teaches us to become subservient to the "masters" -- the employer. Few, if any colleges teach us how to become "masters". Colleges and employers are in lock-step.

Required courses are required only because that keeps the money coming in to support the payroll of the teachers. The course content covers ground which generally is irrelevant to the focus of the student -- that excess subject coverage gives the teacher more stuff to teach and to kill incentive with rote memory tests.

On the other hand, I've used college as a sort of launching pad -- into technology which I would not have discovered had I not had the time and the studies which are truly foundations for the technology. Those courses were generally the electives and the independent study courses. See some of the results: "World Plan for the Garden of Eat'n"; http://masallp.wetpaint.com/page/WORLD+PLAN+FOR+GARDEN+OF+EAT%27N

My brother was in junior college taking electrical engineering courses. During the summer he had a job as a tile setter's helper and learned that journeymen tile setters made more that EE's, had plenty of time off and had more fun. He finished JC, got married and began a career in the tile setting trade. As a superintendent, one year he made $170,000.

Meanwhile I got a JD from Stanford and seldom broke $25-50,000, after expenses. The only problem I had in making money was sticking to my ethical up-bringing -- being loyal to my clients. I saw lawyers less competent than me, making tons of money and screwing their clients on phantom fees and other dirty tricks. In the meantime, my brother was doing high quality tile work and never had to screw-over a customer.

This goes to show that college is not the boost to good earnings it purports to be.

Then you have the Mondragon Experiment. Mondragon Cooperative Corporation eventually established a university so it could have a supply of engineers for their cooperatives. They created a worker cooperative of students (during their college life) who assembled cable harnesses for 4 hours a day, and attended class the other 4 hours. The money they made making cables paid for their college costs. This system really made the students motivated because they knew they had a good quality job waiting for them upon graduation. Please watch the BBC documentary, The Mondragon Experiment; http://masallp.wetpaint.com/page/MONDRAGON+CORPORATION+EXPERIENCE

I'm currently 23, working part time as a security guard, living with dear old mom, and only just recently I realized what I wanted to do the rest of my life. Everyone around me hounded me "you need to start thinking about your career and what you want to do!" "Well i dont know what I want to do." "Figure it out!" great encouragement.

"This article clearly ignores some important FACTS from well known studies.1) Those who finish college are happier than those who don't.2) Those who finish college are healthier than those who don't.3) Those that finish college live longer than those who don't."

You have to dig a little deeper to know why college grads seem to do better. They mostly had good parents and family support. You have to understand when your buying into the PROPAGANDA. Colleges are bought and owned by the corporations to teach the Rockefeller agenda. WAKE UP.

All your going to do in college is learn how to be a slave for the welfare class and the governemnt and the rich people on social sercurity. You get to pay taxes and then you get to provide services for the welfare queens who have never had a job in their lives and the rich retired milloinaries on social sercurity. This society is a joke.

people talking about that stupid pizza shop idea, anywhere you go you already have about 5 pizza shops on every mile of road so that idea is a flop. plus, what does an 18 year old know about running a business?

1. They can learn a skill by becoming an apprentice. Not very likely. Apprenticeships have pretty well vanished. Plumbers or electricians, maybe, but you need a relative to get you in. Other than that, employers expect you to have some training BEFORE they hire you

2. They can volunteer for a charity or even a big company to learn about how those organizations work. Working as a volunteer at a charity is a far cry from working as a paid employee either there or in a large company. Big companies don't use volunteers for real work. They use interns, who are also not paid, but who have to compete to get these very desirable positions.

3. They can travel by picking up odd jobs along the way (or obtaining ESL certificate to teach English abroad). Well, yes, bartending or working as a hotel maid can finance your travels for a while if that's what you want.

4. They can start a business, a nonprofit organization, or monetize a blog. It is to be hoped that they are aware that 90% of such enterprises fail.

5. They can find a mentor or become a self-taught expert in whatever field that moves them. Mentor? Oh, you mean a teacher, like those people in colleges who teach the students. Self-taught is always a possibility. In the past 70 years I have known precisely one person who had the self-discipline and ambition to succeed at that.

6. They can create something beautiful; art, music, handmade crafts, write a book, or build something.If, of course, they have the talent to start with and can find someone to teach them the skills needed to put that talent to use.

I actually agree that college is not necessary in many, perhaps most, instances. Employers demand it as evidence that the graduate has actually turned up often enough to get a degree and is therefore likely to turn up at work. For employment that actually requires knowledge or training that is gained in college, a graduate degree is required. Other than that, the insistence on college mainly benefits college teachers.

Honestly you don't need college like the article says "If your desire profecion involves college" go for it. How does college make you live longer? Everyone is entitled to their opinion and should be respected. But it really comes down to the individual I know a lot of people who did not go to college and are far more successful than a lot who did. I know a lot of people who went to college and have very good lifestyles. If you truely believe by having more bachelors degrees if going to fix the economic situation we are in you might want to take a look at what is going on around the country. There seems to be a lot of people who can critizise but how many are actually doing to help the cause. This country needs leaders who can make better decisions not more people with a bachelor degree. God put us in this world to live together in harmony not compete to see who the number one with bachelor degrees. Please didn't the guy who came up with facebook drop out of HARVARD? Didn't Bill gates drop out of college as well. When you truly find your calling in this world people will do great things. Sending someone to find themselves partying, staying up all nights just to pass an exam and being under tremendous amounts of stress isn't going to help the cause very much either. Sure there are people who don't go to college and have crappy lifestyles. Some of them are very happy that way and some aren't. A question to ask yourself would be how prepared are you for when the economic system collapses?

I have to say that I agree with this article. Education has become a racket. Our youth is getting brainwashed and prepared to run in the hamster wheel. There are too many overly-educated and under-paid professionals. There are many, many successful entrepreneurs who have not gone through college. Information and technology are not limited to schools anymore, anyone with internet access can search for "how to make...(shoes, shirts, couches, etc.)" and learn to do it. Youths DO NOT always know what they want to be for the rest of their lives when they finish school... I read a lot of negative comments on this article and can tell the authors of these comments stick to what society tells them they should do. I am a professional Court Interpreter, I speak three languages and am in the process of learning my fourth. I chose this career many years after I finished school. When I finished school, this career wouldn't have crossed my mind as I wasn't exposed to the experiences that would lead me down this path. After finishing school, I had the opportunity to travel, practise my second language and learn my third! Knowledge and information is not limited to four walls anymore, it's shared freely on the world wide web and that is the reason why the government is trying to limit our access to the internet. Monopolizing information and keeping the people in ignorance makes for good little old hamsters ... and sheep!

I've been in college for two years now, and all it has done is get in the way and prevent me from learning and doing what I actually want. Unfortunately, you can't work as a legitimate archaeologist without a degree... otherwise, you are a looter, grave robber, or black market criminal.

i just wanted to note that there are more reasons not to go to college: 1)95% of ones interviewed that have a degree say that it has nothing to do with their success. 90% of them say they would earn more if they had skipped college. 2) 70% of high school grads that skipped college have work whereas 42.1% in college have a job mostly part-time. 3) college debt has surpassed credit card debt as the leading debt in america. i would like to end with the words of James Fenimore Cooper: "all greatness of character is dependent on individuality. the man who has no other existence than that which he partakes in common with all around him, will never have any other than existence of mediocrity".

Nobody seems to consider the fact that "getting a job" is not the only alternative in this world... "Getting a job", be it high paid or not, makes one a wage slave with tight walls all around. "Jobs" require participation in the "economic system" created and run by our famously flawed so-called "government". Jobs put you in a place where you give up your life to make someone else rich. Everybody acts like employer sponsored health benefits is the holy grail. Eat right, grow your own food, burn the government food pyramid, stop eating stuff wrapped in plastic and prepared by someone else, and just like magic you will have better health and not need to pay someone else to take care of you.

Take note: we have reached the stage where you cannot buy sell or trade without a social security number. The social security program exists in nearly every civilized country on earth. Is the social security program the 'mark of the beast'? When is the last time you ever tried to earn a buck without running into "government"? Try to live tomorrow without engaging the government - i.e. try to not pay any taxes, not do anything that is "illegal", not do anything that is regulated by some statute or ordinance. Are you allowed to walk your dog without a leash?

College is just part of the debt slavery system. Indoctrination, brainwashing, debt, immorality, drunkenness, etc. Why does everyone have to live the same life, in the same canned process? Why is someone else dictating the path we are all 'supposed to take'?

Ironically, disability has led to better income for me. I am a NAVY veteran, have a bachelor's degree in Business and a M.S. in Safety Engineering. Really haven't recouped investments in either degrees due to disability taking my time. However, the Veterans Administration combined with social security provides me with the most income I have ever made. Going through college I worked full time jobs and then part-time jobs (including working for pizza chains, usually as a driver, which paid in cash from tips). Irony.

I see where you're coming from but I think that no matter what you're planning to do, it always will help in some way to get an education. Even if you're doing a trade or tech or beauty school, like Wig and Cap Weave HH Cloris. If you're going to start you're own business, it will still be really useful to have a degree and more importantly to study and learn things that you can't always learn without a college experience.

9/11 Questions

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